About 400 U.S. and British sailors on shore leave from allied exercises went on a drunken rampage in downtown Lisbon, brawling, smashing windows of shops and bars and attacking cars, police said. More than 100 U.S. and British sailors were arrested and at least seven people were injured, a police duty officer said. He said the British were from the carrier Ark Royal and the Americans from the tank landing ship Barnstable County and the amphibious transport docks ship Shreveport.

Wealthy Orange County businessman George Argyros' appointment as U.S. ambassador to Spain is imminent and could come from the White House as early as today, sources told The Times. If Argyros is confirmed by the Senate, it would mean the departure from Orange County of the most visible and aggressive supporter for the county's most contentious public works project: building a commercial airport at the closed El Toro Marine base.

In a recent interview, a Spanish journalist had a truculent question for Jorge Semprun, the renowned screenwriter who is Spain's minister of culture: "How does it feel, as an intellectual, to work as a minister for a government involved in the Gulf War?"

Spanish Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez and President Bush met Thursday for 90 minutes, reviewing Western efforts to bolster reform in Poland and Hungary. Gonzalez also extended to Bush an official invitation from King Juan Carlos to visit Spain. "Spain's successful transition to strong and flourishing democracy makes it a powerful model for Eastern European countries now attempting similar transformations," Bush said.

An American photographer who insisted that he was duped by a drug ring was convicted Tuesday of drug trafficking and sentenced to six years and one day in prison despite a personal plea on his behalf by U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III. A three-judge tribunal of the Barcelona Provincial Court said the prosecution proved that Conan Owen, 23, of Annandale, Va., knew there was cocaine in the suitcase he carried on a flight from Santiago, Chile, to Barcelona on March 13, 1987.

Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez has broken off negotiations with the United States over the stationing of American F-16 fighter-bombers in Spain and has told Washington that it must withdraw the warplanes within 3 1/2 years, diplomatic sources disclosed Wednesday.

Orange County businessman George Argyros and his wife, Judie, leave for Virginia next month to attend a two-week school run by the State Department for new ambassadors and their spouses. That's because President Bush announced Wednesday that he will nominate Argyros, 64, to become "Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America to Spain."